In Proceedings of Foundations of Digital Games
Difficulty-based generation of paperfolding puzzles
Paperfolding puzzles are a unique type of puzzle: they may appear simple and accessible, yet they can be very challenging. Inspired by an existing puzzle, based on a square grid and containing slits, we developed a generalized model for such puzzles, with arbitrary shapes and slits. We present that model, for which we implemented a puzzle generator that models paperfolding using constraint solving, and derives the folded states for a given paper shape and size. We also discuss a difficulty metric for each puzzle layout generated, based on the various types of folds it requires. This allows for very customized puzzle generation, for both the target audience, paper shape and type of content per cell grid. Our generator found several new types of folds that are only possible because of the slits, which make the puzzles more varied, interesting and challenging. We conclude with a discussion on some features of the puzzle space for some simple formats.
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@inproceedings{bib:nanovski:2026,
author = { Nanovski, Stiliyan and Dhume, Mrinal and Bidarra, Rafael },
title = { Difficulty-based generation of paperfolding puzzles },
booktitle = { In Proceedings of Foundations of Digital Games },
year = { 2026 },
doi = { 10.1145/3815598.3815696 },
url = { https://publications.graphics.tudelft.nl/papers/849 },
}